Sunday, January 29, 2017

All the talk surrounding Gold Butte the last few weeks has
been about its recent designation as National Monument. I would like to say,
the controversial designation of Gold Butte, but depending on what circles you
run in you may have different feelings on whether it is controversial or
commendable. As far as mainstream media reports, you would think that Nevada is
unarguably in support of this change in name for Gold Butte. However if you get
off the main drag and travel the rural routes, you will find that the opinions
of Nevadans are a little more colorful than the whitewashed media may portray. As
often is the case, the feelings toward the Monument designations start to
change as you approach the city skirts, where urban sprawl starts to fade into the
rural roads leading to small town America. I am one of those from small town
America who resent and openly oppose Gold Butte being appropriated as a
national monument.

National Monuments by design are created to protect historic
and prehistoric sites within the lands administered by the Federal Government.
The original intent of the Antiquities Act was to protect Native American sites
and artifacts. The powers granted to the President of the United States by
which a National Monument designation can be created is given through the 1906
Antiquities Act. With an understanding
of the intent of a National Monument designation I will try and explain one of
my biggest concerns about this designation in my backyard.

Gold Butte is an expansive and diverse landscape delineated
by two rivers that mark its boundaries. It is the rugged country between the confluence
of the Colorado and Virgin rivers. A wide array of people throughout time have
made their mark upon the rugged landscape as they traversed across the natural crossroads
in the desert known as Gold Butte. By designating Gold Butte as a Monument it
is intentionally prioritizing cultures and history by what today’s values
dictate while minimizing others. By administering Gold Butte as a National
Monument the history of many of these cultures will slowly be erased and
forgotten by the federal land managers as they focus their resources on making
a monument based on a single narrative.

There are amazing Native American sites found within Gold
Butte however there are also sites that represent other cultures that have
traversed the landscape that are just as valued to people that want access to
public lands and the history they identify with. The history of our country is
tormented by the narrative of the federal government mismanaging the priorities
of the masses at the sacrifice of the minority. I agree that it is critical
that we protect the Native American sites found within Gold Butte but I also
know it is critical to protect, with the same significance, the Pioneer Sites,
the Mining Sites, the corrals, the water tanks, the springs, the access to the
roads and the camping spots. The allure of what makes Gold Butte interesting is
the diversity and the access to explore so many facets of history and geology intertwined
upon one accessible landscape. This will be lost over time as the federal
government imposes their storyline upon the landscape.

I have had many people ask me what I think will happen, if I
think we need to hurry and go out there before it all gets closed off. My
answer is no, I don’t think that anything will change in the first little bit.
For the first few years I project that the look and feel of Gold Butte will
remain the same. It will be in five years after the management plan has been
created and administered, as new management comes in and slowly starts to
change the feel of what Gold Butte is to what they think it should be. Roads
will slowly start to close, camp spots will start to be restricted, family
reunions will be curtailed, scout trips will become discouraged and church
functions will be turned down. It will
be a slow transition for the local communities who have traditionally enjoyed
the access of the great outdoors of Gold Butte to deteriorate into yet another
restricted federal theme park to be observed through their point of view. The
history of cattle ranching will slowly be lost. The history of the early miners
who laid the ground work for today’s society that we take for granted will be
maligned. The opportunity to camp, four-wheel, picnic and enjoy a day trip with
your family will be confined to the fancy of the BLM.

For the masses this won’t be an issue. For the one time
visitor who saw a Facebook post from their favorite Wilderness advocacy group and
thought it would be a fun visit, they will never know the difference. It is the
local communities who pay the price. It is the families that have historic
connection to the landscape. It is the scout troops who could have camped and
explored. It is the church groups who use to be able to do youth had cart trip
but now can’t bear the cost. It is the people who love and know the landscape
the best, who love it the most, who appreciate it for what it truly is, who pay
the price for generations. It is society at large who lose out on the opportunity
to experience hands on history which once is lost, is lost forever.

I love the out of doors, I am an advocate of conservation, I
am a lover of history, I want to see the wild places preserved for future generations
however there is a right way to carry that out and there is a wrong way.
Closing off access to places that have been accessible before is not
conservation. To over emphasize one culture while downplaying the other is not
beneficial to anyone and will do irreparable damage to both the physically and
cultural landscape. The current course
of conservation which consists of putting up fences and restricting access is a
nonsense agenda peddled by people who don’t understand the human connection
with the landscape. I want to see public lands preserved for my children and
grandchildren. A national Monument designation is not the best path to ensure
Gold Butte is preserved for my grandchildren.

It may be a longshot but I am going to reach out to my local
town board and my county commissioner to call for a repeal of the designation.
I am going to ask my state assemblymen and senators to show their opposition to
this unilateral designation. I will try and make contact with my congressman
and senators to look for ways to repeal this executive order which bypassed the
public process. If this was the right thing to do then it should have flown
through congress by the proper processes and procedures already set in place to
preserve public lands. If executive action is the right way to manage lands
then why do we have an agency specifically created to manage our public lands?
The reason is because this is not the right way to manage public lands. This is
not the best way to preserve our history.

There is a group of like-minded people who are working to
find ways to fight against this designation if you are interested please reach
out and let me know.